Writing
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Monday, June 22nd, 2009“Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamppost what it feels about dogs.” John Osborne That warm feeling I got when my romantic comedy Heteroflexible advanced to quarterfinals in its first screenwriting competition at Blue Cat, became a warm, wet feeling when I read the script analysis. Now, I do love my [...]
A writer’s gotta do what a writer’s gotta do
Sunday, January 25th, 2009I just listened to Bryan Adams’ Everything I Do, I Do It for You sixteen times in a row. No, I’m not having A Relationship Moment. Nor am I hoping for Death by Cornball. I needed a totally schmaltzy song to match the horridly touching moment at the opening of the novel I am writing. [...]
Plucking Words from Thin Air
Thursday, November 20th, 2008The blank page stared at me like a great ghostly eye. I might have punched it in the eye, had it not been a $600 Apple Cinema monitor. The apparition element was all my own. But there was a reason for the empty screen. I had begun my fourth venture into National Novel Writing Month, [...]
A Day at Barnes and Noble
Sunday, July 6th, 2008Some days I just go hang out at B&N and read, read, read. And see who must hop into my bag and go home with me. I’ve been a little frustrated at my local library, as I’ve been requesting some awesome books over and over, and still, because I’m a *bit* past my teenage years, [...]
Double Agent
Monday, June 23rd, 2008So, last weekend I attended the Writers’ League of Texas 2008 Agent Conference. This was my fourth one in ten years. I really intended to only take photographs. I was volunteering for the League, running around in cheerleader mode, hugging writers I’d met over the years, listening to nervous pitches before they were presented one-on-one [...]
Awesome Children’s Books and a Great Lady
Thursday, March 27th, 2008Among the greatest of the great in children’s literature is Verla Kay. She is not only a well-respected children’s picture book author, but she is the the kindly mother figure to those of us trying to get our children’s and young adult books in the hands of publishers. The writing forums she runs are a [...]
Books, Kids, and the Meaning of Life
Wednesday, February 13th, 2008“So, can God die?” The kindergartner gazed up at me earnestly, blonde sticks of hair falling in her eyes. I instantly thought of my copy of The Golden Compass sitting on a shelf behind her, waiting with my other things until I had finished my volunteer duty for the day. Had she seen it, prompting the [...]
Equal and Opposite Reactions
Monday, December 17th, 2007I pulled an all-nighter trying to get through yet another hard-core edit of my middle grade novel Jinnie Wishmaker. I sat down with my laptop and a Dr. Pepper at 10 p.m. and started working. I finished about noon today (I did sleep a couple hours in there) with a pretty solid draft to give to a couple [...]
Books and Reading
Monday, December 3rd, 2007Well, National Novel Writing Month is over! Whew! I finished the 50K by writing random bits about my main character’s parents. It was drudgery, and I will delete it all as soon as I open the Jinnie Wishmaker file again, but for now–I’m READING! And watching movies! And doing all the other things I mostly [...]
The kid book is done! And 5K short.
Tuesday, November 27th, 2007Sometimes I look up from my computer (which is rare these days, between National Novel Writing Month and holiday portraits) and wonder how in the world I ended up writing a middle grade novel. But last night, I finished Jinnie Wishmaker! I’m sitting at 45,000 words at the moment, just shy of the goal of [...]
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